TURKMENISTAN: UN PREVENTIVE DIPLOMACY CENTER

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ASHGABAT 001250 SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE FOR SCA/CEN; E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PREL KIRF TX UN SUBJECT: TURKMENISTAN: UN PREVENTIVE DIPLOMACY CENTER PONDERS ISSUE OF EXTREMISM REF: ASHGABAT 0880 ¶1. (U) Sensitive but unclassified. Not for public Internet. ¶2. (SBU) SUMMARY: The September 12-13 shootout has captured the attention of UN representatives and staff at the UN Center for Preventive Diplomacy, as the Center continues to seek to define its role and activities in the region. An action plan for the Center is being drafted that will help provide an initial road map by late October. Although UN officials are intrigued by the possibility of a new issue that the Center could potentially tackle regarding extremism, the Center will likely find it difficult to sell to the Turkmen. END SUMMARY. ¶3. (SBU) Poloff met September 18 with the UN Center for Preventive Diplomacy Political Affairs Officer Armands Pupols. Pupols, one of only four international UN staff at the Center, indicated that officials at UN headquarters had read about the shootout with great interest, and are discussing with Center Head Miroslav Jenca and Deputy Head Fedor Klimtchouk about whether religious extremism or violence related to narcotrafficking could be an issue that the Center could focus attention on, in a regional context. The Center is currently drafting an action plan for its activities in 2009-2010, and will be proposing issues of regional concern such as water, energy, and natural disasters, as well as security and stability issues related to Afghanistan. ¶4. (SBU) The Center's staff is hoping to send a draft plan to New York by the end of September. Once it is approved by UN headquarters, the Center will present it to the regional states' deputy foreign ministers at an October 16 meeting, to determine initial implementing steps. Pupols said the plan does not require approval by the Central Asian states, but its elements should relate to the Center's mandate. The Center's mandate, however, is very general in nature, leaving room for wider interpretation. ¶5. (SBU) Pupols said the Center will soon have another foreign UN staff member who will work on human dimension issues. The Center's mandate, however, did not include language about human rights work in particular, so there had been considerable discussion regarding what this person's focus would be. The issue of extremism was one possibility, and another was to find ways to fulfill the Center's mandate of "monitoring development" in the region. However, this had not been an area that had been thoroughly discussed with Central Asian leaders, and the Center wanted to tread carefully. ¶6. (SBU) The Turkmenistan government views the Center's mandate in an especially unique way, Pupols said. Government officials have been pressuring the Center to support an energy security resolution that Deputy Chairman/Foreign Minister Meredov intends to introduce at this month's UN General Assembly. They seem to believe that the Center would have some capacity to coordinate a security arrangement that would be established along any future pipeline route, he noted. Interestingly, when Russian representatives heard about the Turkmen approach to the Center, they argued that its mandate did not encompass pipeline security work. ¶7. (SBU) COMMENT: The UN Center for Preventive Diplomacy is still suffering growing pains as it determines what kind of role it will play and what issues it will tackle in the coming years. The Center is likely to have a difficult time convincing the Turkmen government in particular that the threat of extremism should be one of its priorities. In fact, during preliminary discussions with regional leaders earlier this year, the Uzbeks, Kyrgyz, and Tajiks all requested that the Center tackle the question of religious ASHGABAT 00001250 002 OF 002 extremism (reftel). The Turkmen did not name extremism as one of their topics of interest. Although the Center does not need the Turkmen government's approval to conduct work on this issue, it will be hesitant to take on an issue that its host government opposes or denies exists. END COMMENT. CURRAN